Fresno, CA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 10-329 folds into the at-large law at Section 10-308(a) rather than standing alone: every enforcement step under the Pet Responsibility Act is triggered by a violation of that same at-large prohibition. The poundmaster issues a written warning for a first offense, with no citation attached yet. 00 administrative citation. That same third-or-later offense also triggers Section 10-329(d)(4), which lets the poundmaster order the owner to comply with one or both remedial conditions: spay or neuter every dog the person possesses and prove it to the poundmaster within sixty days, or implant a microchip identification device in every dog the person possesses.

Section 10-329(f) lets the City recover its abatement, administrative and enforcement costs under Chapter 1, Article 5, on top of the citation penalties themselves, and Section 10-329(g) gives any owner who receives a citation, a spay/neuter order, or a microchip order the right to appeal under Chapter 1, Article 4's administrative hearing process. Because the microchip order only attaches to a third or subsequent at-large violation, Fresno does not require microchipping of dogs generally, the requirement is a targeted enforcement tool aimed at owners whose animals have already been cited twice for running loose.